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Record Store Day Chart Recap: Vinyl Album Sales Reach Historic High

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Record Store Day (RSD) shakes up Billboard's charts, as a bevy of albums and singles released for the indie retail event on April 19 overwhelm our lists.

On the 25-position Tastemakers chart -- which tracks the top-selling albums at independent and small chain stores -- only three albums weren't specifically tied to RSD festivities. The chart (excerpted below) is led by Green Day's 18-track "Demolicious" album, which was released exclusively to indie retailers on CD, vinyl and cassette. (Yes, cassette.)

It sold nearly 4,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Of that sum, 42 percent were CD, 42 percent were vinyl LPs and 16 percent were cassettes. "Demolicious" will become available to digital retailers on May 19, but its physical configurations will remain exclusive to indie sellers for the time being.

INDIE RULES: Independent stores represented 19.4 percent of all physical albums sold in the week ending April 20 (605,000 of 5.3 million) -- likely the highest share of physical albums for the indie sector since SoundScan started tracking sales in 1991.

(The week's top-selling albums based on an influential panel of stores comprised of independent retailer coalitions and smaller regional chains. Titles are ranked by sales data as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. Full chart viewable at billboard.biz.)

VITAL VINYL: Overall vinyl album sales also hit a SoundScan-era high in the week ending April 20, as 369,000 LPs were sold. That easily beats the previous record, logged with 295,000 LPs in the week ending Dec. 22, 2013. (A year ago, RSD helped yield 244,000 vinyl LPs sold in the week ending April 20, 2013.)

(The week's top-selling vinyl albums, ranked by sales data as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. Full chart viewable at billboard.biz.)

SINGLES ACTION: In terms of singles sales -- a normally dormant retail category -- there were 104,000 physical singles sold in the week ending April 20. That's up 68 percent compared with the haul a year ago (62,000) and up 1,200 percent from the week ending April 13 (8,000).

On the Hot Singles Sales chart, the tally is livened up by RSD, as all 25 titles are affiliated with RSD. (We have excerpted the top 10, below.) The chart is topped by Nirvana's 7-inch vinyl single "Pennyroyal Tea" (3,000 sold). The single was originally planned to be released in 1994, but was withheld in the wake of Kurt Cobain's death.

The titles at Nos. 2, 3, 5 and 7 are part of Warner Music Group's Side By Side series, where the same song is performed by two artists (the original performer, plus a later cover). The Love/Rush title was sold as a "mystery artist" single, where the contents of the single were hidden from the customer's view until after purchase.

Record Store Day (RSD) shakes up Billboard's charts, as a bevy of albums and singles released for the indie retail event on April 19 overwhelm our lists.

On the 25-position Tastemakers chart -- which tracks the top-selling albums at independent and small chain stores -- only three albums weren't specifically tied to RSD festivities. The chart (excerpted below) is led by Green Day's 18-track "Demolicious" album, which was released exclusively to indie retailers on CD, vinyl and cassette. (Yes, cassette.)

It sold nearly 4,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Of that sum, 42 percent were CD, 42 percent were vinyl LPs and 16 percent were cassettes. "Demolicious" will become available to digital retailers on May 19, but its physical configurations will remain exclusive to indie sellers for the time being.

INDIE RULES: Independent stores represented 19.4 percent of all physical albums sold in the week ending April 20 (605,000 of 5.3 million) -- likely the highest share of physical albums for the indie sector since SoundScan started tracking sales in 1991.

(The week's top-selling albums based on an influential panel of stores comprised of independent retailer coalitions and smaller regional chains. Titles are ranked by sales data as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. Full chart viewable at billboard.biz.)

VITAL VINYL: Overall vinyl album sales also hit a SoundScan-era high in the week ending April 20, as 369,000 LPs were sold. That easily beats the previous record, logged with 295,000 LPs in the week ending Dec. 22, 2013. (A year ago, RSD helped yield 244,000 vinyl LPs sold in the week ending April 20, 2013.)

(The week's top-selling vinyl albums, ranked by sales data as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. Full chart viewable at billboard.biz.)

SINGLES ACTION: In terms of singles sales -- a normally dormant retail category -- there were 104,000 physical singles sold in the week ending April 20. That's up 68 percent compared with the haul a year ago (62,000) and up 1,200 percent from the week ending April 13 (8,000).

On the Hot Singles Sales chart, the tally is livened up by RSD, as all 25 titles are affiliated with RSD. (We have excerpted the top 10, below.) The chart is topped by Nirvana's 7-inch vinyl single "Pennyroyal Tea" (3,000 sold). The single was originally planned to be released in 1994, but was withheld in the wake of Kurt Cobain's death.

The titles at Nos. 2, 3, 5 and 7 are part of Warner Music Group's Side By Side series, where the same song is performed by two artists (the original performer, plus a later cover). The Love/Rush title was sold as a "mystery artist" single, where the contents of the single were hidden from the customer's view until after purchase.